Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-22

what we should hev' done If 1t hadn't been
for few blessed packs O. cards.
"And this time the run had KEEP creepin
up the banks. From little stream that
you almost could stand and jump across
in dry times, it got before long to rush
in and ragin' like the old Missouri river
on a bender.
"Jake lived in little shanty half way
up the buff, on t'other side O. the creek.
1t was mean, tumble-down sort O. place,
for Jake, just as 1 said, was no-account
fellow-a shifess kind o. cuss, who never
had the knack o. gettin' along like other
folks. If he ever tried to do anything it
never PANIED out as it would done for
anybody else. Hard luck was allus at his
heels. He took up more'n a dozen diff
ferent claims hereabouts, but they never
amounted to notnin', while fellers all
around him were making big money
right along. Jake was Jonah for every
poker game, and everybody allus set
in wit h him. They lived poor enough IN
the little shanty up the buff there. I
don't know what they'd done if it hadn't
been for Jake's wife, tearin' smart wo-
man. who took in washin' and did a little
sewin' and mendin' for the neighbors,
while Jake was spenin' what money he
gOt-agln the gOlden GdGe Ddr
''They had a little gal, as poorly little
thing as ever you see, with eyes as blue
as pool on the top of the mountains,
and hair that shone like streaks of bright
gold in the rock. Her name it was Mag
gle, and at the time I'm tellin' about she
must a bin or years old. She was just
as cute, and pretty, and smart as they
ever make 'em, and Jake was mighty
proud of her, as well he might be. Why,
I've seen her come down to the Golden
Gate and take Jake home up the noun
tain when it was so late the stars was
beginniu' TO fade out o. sight before the
sunrise.
zone night lot of Us was over to the
Golden Gate. I was playin' poker with
the Sacramento chap 7 spoke Of and
another fellow o. his'n. The creek had
riz about three feet that day. and it look
ed mighty scary for everything in it's
reach. Cy Parker, who owned the saw
mill little above, had been pOkin' round
with long pole pretty much all day to
see how high she was, and how fast she
was, and how fast she was risin, and he
looked mighty solemn, L tell you. Folks
| living In the houses along the bank had
moved out, and Just before dark every
]
bridge, fearin' every instant to see it
carried away. 1t was still rainln', and
! the wind and the waters were tryin' to
see which could make the most noise.
We KEEP on a. playin', me- and the Sacra-
mento man an the other Teller, not carin'
for the flood nor anything else but the
game. Jake and the other boys who had
got tired watchin' was snoozing around
the hot stove. imagine my feelin's, if
you can, whe / got a hand on the Sacra-
mentc chan's deal with four kings in it.
| backed her for all had, just as you'd a
done stranger, and the Sacramento chap
stayed, But fill me with buckhot if he
didn't show over me with fonr
pesky aces and scoop in the pot. That
wouHd up the game for nae. L sat down
in comfortable place by the stove With
a night-cap of my regular gin and water.
Daylight was stealin' in through the dip
PIN winders. 1t was still rainin' and the
wind was still howlin' just about as it Is
now. All at once [ heard somebody cal
| lin. What l heard imagined before was
a wild, scared voice some time was now
sartin about. woke up the boys and we
went out 80 see what was the matter. Tt
was hard TO believe our eyes. The mill
was gone, the bridge was gons. Every
house that stood anywhere near the bank
had been carried away. Trees that were
! high and dry before were benGin' their
boughs before the ragin' waters, and the
bollin', tumblin', fOamin' creek was tearin'
along full Of logs, lumber, drift-wood,
wreck of houses. and everything you
could think of. But we didn't stop to
look around much. For there on the
other side o. the creek down to the
waters edge was Jake's wife standin' in
the gray mornin' with her hands at her
chin, clutChin' an old faden shawl around
| her head, and her dress soakin' wet and
| switchin' in the wind. Jake she called
| in scared, wild voice, 'is Maggie over
| there?" Jahe Civ a sudden start, turned
| pale as ghost, reeled as if stunned, and
and answered back, mo-, as if it was the
+! hardest word he ever spoke in all his life.
I'll never forget, if lives to be a hundred,
the shrek of that poor woman as she fell
in heap to the ground.
'sYe see, she'd sent Maggie down to the
Golden Gate to get Jack, fearin' he might
| fall into the run if he tried to go home
alone while full. Everybody thought she
must ben on the bridge when it went
down the creek. Jake took on awful.
We got up party of US and went sarch-
| in down both banks for the poor ittls
girls body. We didn't find it for purity
night week. The rain had stopped, the
sun was shinin' brighter'n ever, and the
creek had gone down agin to where it had
belonged. 1t allus seemed to me as if
that tree down there was claspin' that
poor little dead gal in his arms in kind
o. savin'like way. For, tangled in the
branches of a big fallen tree about a
mile down the stream, and partly kivered
up with leaves we found her. It was a
purity place. There was littlessclearin'
near by in the shade of some big trees
that the first birds O. spring was clipper
| in round in. Below was the creek a
murmurin' as it sorry for what it had
done. On the other side was the noun
tains bristlin with pine trees that shone
in the sun as If they had been vanished.
There wasn't no graveyard here then, and
Jake, who didn't believe in churches and
regular funerals and such things, allowed
he'd bury her right there in the little
cleariu'. One of US went back for Jake's
wife, and to tell the folks who hadn't
heerd she'd been found. There was
| a preacher in the search1n party,